Upcoming ‘Buyer Protection Fees’

[lady4838]

I’m a member for 14 years - I have today complained fiercely to EBay with regards to 4% + 75p charge on each item purchased as we all know this is a Back Door way of recovering the Seller Fees which were scrapped recently - Buyers already have adequate protection - as to payment 2 days after delivery - we’re at the mercy of Royal Mail to scan all  items when collected (not guaranteed) 😡

 Fellow  members I urge you to let your disproval known - SHAME ON YOU Ebay😡😡

[twin--turbo]

It's never paid to the seller so why would it be refunded?

[anne.craig]

I've seen a lot of posts indicating the seller is paying those fees, incorrectly.  It's all gone out of control, too many changes, not enough information, no input from eBay to assist, too many panicking eBay sellers, Chinese whispers etc.  For example, someone said MSE posted something to indicate the BPF won't apply to items under £1, but no-one has been able to confirm.  Sellers are indicating they will be reducing prices to cover the BPF but that's not the same thing as them paying those fees, some major confusion.  Ebay have cocked this up massively - one day this will be a lesson for corporate communication students I suspect.

[anne.craig]

And mixed in with all of this is the Simple Delivery issue, causing equal panic and confusion, with people mixing them up, mashing them together etc.  

[vintique*violet]

No BPF is refunded back to the seller... as the buyer pays the BPF...and they would not receive it back either, it is a one off fee.   @past--lives 

Take a look at eBay Buyer Protection Fee blurb on eBay you will find all you need plus if you google eBay UK buyer fees coming February 4, 2025 - what you need to know.... a valuable resource comes up with loads info... 

 

[valueaddedresource]

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@anne.craig wrote:

I've seen a lot of posts indicating the seller is paying those fees, incorrectly.  It's all gone out of control, too many changes, not enough information, no input from eBay to assist, too many panicking eBay sellers, Chinese whispers etc.  For example, someone said MSE posted something to indicate the BPF won't apply to items under £1, but no-one has been able to confirm.  Sellers are indicating they will be reducing prices to cover the BPF but that's not the same thing as them paying those fees, some major confusion.  Ebay have cocked this up massively - one day this will be a lesson for corporate communication students I suspect.

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@anne.craig  eBay has been very clear and explicit: The Buyer Protection fee is applied to all listings by UK-based private sellers, excluding Cars, Motorcycles & Vehicles, Classified Ads, and Property.

That's it - there is no exception at a certain price point and nowhere in any of eBay's policy or FAQ pages that says items under £1 are exempt.

This was also asked about in the most recent weekly chat and eBay staff confirmed the buyer fees will apply even on transactions under 99p.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Chat-with-the-eBay-Community/Weekly-Chat-with-the-eBay-Community-Tea... 

[*pikeman*]

<meta charset="UTF-8" />

You don't need to send it tracked if you can afford to wait the 2 weeks until ebay auto pay you.

I can probably wait for the payout, but them adding another pound onto my price makes my items no longer competitively priced ☹️

[johnwash1]

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@anne.craig wrote:

I've seen a lot of posts indicating the seller is paying those fees, incorrectly.  It's all gone out of control, too many changes, not enough information, no input from eBay to assist, too many panicking eBay sellers, Chinese whispers etc.  For example, someone said MSE posted something to indicate the BPF won't apply to items under £1, but no-one has been able to confirm.  Sellers are indicating they will be reducing prices to cover the BPF but that's not the same thing as them paying those fees, some major confusion.  Ebay have cocked this up massively - one day this will be a lesson for corporate communication students I suspect.

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Since the fee will be included in the listing price shown to buyers, effectively it is still a sellers' fee in all but name.

MSE is a useful site, though statements there are often over-simplified and even plain wrong.  But it's a really good place to be alerted to things one should research further oneself.  It's worth signing up to the weekly email from MSE.  There's usually something that's of interest, even if a lot else of it is irrelevant to many readers.

These fees, whatever you or ebay choose to call them, are not a sign of the sky falling in.  Whereas mandatory Simple Delivery may be so for some of us.

Ebay have been an example for many years of how not to communicate.  I can only hope there are more worthwhile courses for students than Corporate Communications, Meejya Studies, Business Buzzwords etc.  Time for the pendulum to swing back and promote worthwhile apprenticeships in plumbing, electrics, carpentry and the like.

[stimpson_jc]

If anyone does go on MSE forum and makes any comments take note that they delete everything you say that doesn't fit in with their narrative which is all in favour of the business sellers and scaring off private sellers they see as competition.... then they usually ban you and you can't use their site again. MSE forum is very corrupt, & unfair to users.... I see someone keeps trying to get all my comments deleted here who I suspect is from MSE.

[anne.craig]

Yes, I was using the MSE thing as an example of misinformation being circulated!  For myself, I'm in no panic about any of this, though I hate all of it.  I already sell on Vinted, so simple delivery, payment holds and buyer fees are all things I'm used to, though Vinted does let you opt out/in of every courier service listed.  The other major difference I see here is that on Vinted it's the buyer's responsibility to pay postage both ways for an item if they're not happy - which definitely helps stop malicious or frivolous returns.  For me, that's the thing that's most worrying about the changes coming up - but my listings will not change for now, and if SD does become compulsory I will be putting up my item prices to account for packaging costs, which I currently incorporate into my postage fees (which I previously reduced when we went fee-free).  I am fairly lucky though, I don't rely on eBay money to pay my bills.

[cm90691]

"Since the fee will be included in the listing price shown to buyers, effectively it is still a sellers' fee in all but name".

Absolutely, and it's insulting and astonishing that ebay thinks that we don't realise this. 

[johnwash1]

... ebay doesn't care whether we realise it or not.  There, FTFY.

All they care about is the optics with the shareholders.

[w.l.stubbs]

It doesn't matter how much spin Ebay put on this buyer protection fee at the end of the day it amounts to a buyer commission, I also wonder what part of the fee is V.A.T because this is a service it should state that V.A.T is chargeable and makes up a component of the charge should it not ?

[anne.craig]

I don't understand this, buyer pays it.  It's only a cost to sellers if they reduce their prices in response to it.  I will not be doing that, if the buyer fee to eBay is what stops them buying then they can go without my item.

[vintique*violet]

 I think many buyers will stop buying... I already have... being as the CEO stated that small private sellers are the highest  buyers on eBay - and they want to " penalise" our sales for something which already exists, by misleading blurb, AND hold our funds,  then they are not going to gain from my purchases either.  

[anne.craig]

I agree with this VV, a buyer fee that is new (unlike other selling websites where it was always there) is a potential disincentive, it took me a while to get over that on Vinted as a buyer, though as has previously been advised, if the total cost is good including the fee, it shouldn't be - that's psychology though!

[cessna152towser]

I have been buying and selling on eBay since I joined in 2004.   I will no longer be selling after the end of this month.  I had been minded to keep my account open so that I might occasionally buy something if the price was right even after adding the new fees.  However I am now considering leaving eBay entirely.   A friend who has never sold on eBay and has only ever bought a few items on his rarely used account was recently pursued by eBay and a firm of debt collectors appointed by them, over alleged outstanding fee of £58 concerning sale of a car.  Neither eBay nor the debt collector could provide any more detail.  He has refused to pay and it now looks like eBay won't pursue it further.  Either an eBay error or somebody hacked into his dormant account.

[vintique*violet]

If I had the know-how , tech skills and funding,  I would open a site just for Private Sellers ( No businesses ) and as long as the site fees /costs etc were covered - offer it as just a " membership" perhaps just a yearly fee:  because these days the " little people" ( no offence intended to little people, its just a term) need all the help they can get with how the world is going.

I think eBay has lost its " humanity" on many levels and have shown their true colours towards genuine private sellers - remember when they started to take a percentage of postal costs to deter those who were using postal fees to " line their pockets"... well many sellers still try to, yes it did get rid of those who were charging £10 or £20 just for a small item at 99pence in a way to cover incase bids didn't go to what they wanted... it was unfair, it was noted but eBay's changes then just " penalised" the genuine ones and they made bank again. 

Of course I understand it's  just " business" and businesses run to make a profit,  but there are ways of doing that, and not just to line their own pockets and for stakeholders. - particularly when that " business" is built on " customers" like us and without, there would be no eBay marketplace. 

[sml192]

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@w.l.stubbs wrote:

It doesn't matter how much spin Ebay put on this buyer protection fee at the end of the day it amounts to a buyer commission, I also wonder what part of the fee is V.A.T because this is a service it should state that V.A.T is chargeable and makes up a component of the charge should it not ?

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Yes, the fee will be inclusive of VAT although that hasn't been mentioned by eBay yet, probably because most buyers do not need to know about the VAT element.  Presumably, the VAT will be shown as part of the breakdown at checkout and a VAT invoice will be available to download for those that require it as is currently the case. 

[suema_62]

Agreed we could do with a collectors selling site for all the small stuff like cards, postcards, trading cards, stamps, action figures and parts, dolls and dolls clothes and dolls house stuff to name a few. Believe there are some individual sites but not a catch all.

[johnwash1]

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@suema_62 wrote:

Agreed we could do with a collectors selling site for all the small stuff like cards, postcards, trading cards, stamps, action figures and parts, dolls and dolls clothes and dolls house stuff to name a few. Believe there are some individual sites but not a catch all.

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I would say ebid.net is a catch-all.  Many different categories there, just as diverse as ebay.  Over 4 million listings, and been around for many years.  Just not well known, because they don't advertise.